Recurring payments are the unheralded driver of the new economy. From subscription-based services such as Netflix to insurance premiums, membership fees to gyms or payments through EMI, recurring payments are now a part of how we pay. So, how do they happen? How is a recurring transaction different from a spot payment? And how can businesses particularly those in the regulated sector optimize recurring inflows and outflows?

Welcome to Recurring Payments 101, your go-to resource for learning about how recurring payments work, the technologies that power them, such as UPI AutoPay and eNACH, and how platforms such as Castler make such transactions efficient and safe at scale.

What are Recurring Payments?

Recurring payments are advance transactions paid on a regular basis. Rather than the customer paying every time, a mandate is established once, and the merchant or service provider can debit the amount agreed on the agreed date.

This model is particularly helpful for consumer subscriptions (e.g., OTT services, fitness apps, or digital software), loan EMIs and credit instalments, insurance premiums, school fees, utility bills, and B2B agreements, such as SaaS billing or leasing agreements.

Recurring payments eliminate the hassle of multiple manual transactions. They offer companies cash flow predictability and convenience to customers no reminders, no late charges.

Types of Recurring Payments

There are two main types of recurring payments:

• Fixed Recurring Payments- The frequency and amount are fixed. For instance, your premium of ₹1,500 is deducted on the 5th of each month.

• Variable Recurring Payments- Here, the quantity changes based on use or usage, but the frequency is always the same. Consider your postpaid mobile bill or electricity bill.

In either event, a mandate to pay is a mandate to debit an instruction to the company by the payer to debit their card or account.

India Payment Solutions That Foster Recurring Payments

India's fintech ecosystem has evolved several products to enable recurring payments across segments. The most notable among them are UPI AutoPay and eNACH.

UPI AutoPay

UPI AutoPay, announced by NPCI, allows users to provide auto-recurring payment mandates via UPI apps like PhonePe, Google Pay, or Paytm. Payments are auto-debited on the specified date once a user provides a mandate authorization (e.g., ₹299/month for an app that offers streaming).

Compatible with UPI 2.0 apps, supports fixed and variable recurring models, mandates are accepted through UPI PIN, and can perform Real-time generation and modification of mandates.

eNACH (Electronic National Automated Clearing House)

eNACH is an NPCI mandate-based recurring debit facility facilitated by banks and NBFCs. It is generally utilized for high-value recurring payments like loan EMIs, mutual fund SIPs, insurance premiums, and subscription business services.

With eNACH, a customer triggers a periodic debit from his/her bank account by submitting a mandate either digitally or in print. eNACH is specifically best for periodic payments from bank accounts as opposed to cards or UPI wallets.

eNACH has its own advantages. It’s high-mandate durability and security makes it perfect for high-value recurring payments. It is also suitable for regulated businesses like lending or insurance. The permits fixed and variable mandates. eNACH is also financed by all leading Indian banks.

How Exactly Do Repeating Payments Work?

Let's break down the process of a recurring transaction from setup to execution.

Step 1: Mandate Creation

The customer is asked to sign a payment mandate through UPI or bank account. This can be a sign-up checkbox or a checkout popup.

Step 2: Authorization

After approval, the customer gives explicit consent via OTP, biometric, or UPI PIN to the merchant or platform to debit their account.

Step 3: Payment Execution

On the date scheduled, the payment is automatically done. In case of success, the merchant is paid the amount; in case of failure (e.g., due to lack of funds), a retry can be made or an alarm is triggered.

Step 4: Mandate Management

Mandates need to be able to be suspended, terminated, or amended at any time. Similarly, businesses need mandate status management capabilities, retries, and reconciliations.

General Issues in Repeating Payment Systems

While automatic payments offer convenience, many businesses face resistance when scaling them. One major challenge is the high failure rate often caused by insufficient funds or defective mandates which leads to disruptions and extra operational effort.

Another hurdle is longer settlement times, which directly affect cash flow, especially in sectors like lending and real estate where payments are time-sensitive.

As companies grow across regions and adopt various payment channels, reconciliation becomes harder. Tracking and matching payments across UPI, eNACH, NEFT, or QR-based collections demands more advanced systems.

For firms in regulated industries such as lending, insurance, or real estate, compliance is non-negotiable. Staying audit-ready requires continuous monitoring and system updates.

Lastly, without centralized control, it's difficult to enforce payment logic or get real-time visibility across different user segments, leading to gaps in oversight and accountability.

Castler: Making Recurring Payments Simple at Scale

In today’s complex financial ecosystem, businesses often deal with distributed payment infrastructures, multiple platforms, and inconsistent compliance. Castler solves this by offering a single, regulation-first platform that brings together pay-ins and payouts in one seamless flow. Whether you're a fintech, lending platform, or subscription-based business, Castler helps you simplify and automate your recurring payment cycles with ease.

Castler isn’t just another payment gateway it’s a business-grade platform built to handle high-volume, complex transactions that demand both compliance and scalability. It’s designed to function across regulated sectors, ensuring your workflows remain secure, transparent, and auditable at every step.

With Smart Pay-In capabilities, businesses can collect recurring payments effortlessly. Using tools like UPI AutoPay, companies can set up one-time or repeat debit mandates. For longer-term agreements like EMIs or rent, eNACH provides a compliant and automated route.

Castler also supports QR-based collections, where each customer receives a dynamic or static code for real-time payments. Behind the scenes, Digital Identifiers ensure each transaction or user is uniquely tagged for instant reconciliation. For regulated or structured payments, Digital Challans offer full traceability.

Recurring payments aren't only about collections outflows matter too. Castler enables real-time, API-based payouts through NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, and UPI, letting you automate everything from vendor settlements and refunds to partner commissions without manual intervention.

Built for Complex Use Cases

Recurring payments go beyond streaming subscriptions. Castler is engineered to serve high-stakes workflows that involve both regulatory compliance and operational complexity.

• In NBFC collections and co-lending, Castler helps automate loan repayments, manage multi-party fund disbursements, and ensure all transactions are properly recorded and shared.

• For SaaS billing, it handles monthly renewals, invoice-tied debits, and automatic retry logic when payments fail.

• Marketplace platforms benefit from escrow logic that triggers disbursements based on pre-set timelines or delivery confirmation ensuring buyer-seller protection at every stage.

• Even in real estate, Castler simplifies recurring rent payments and manages escrowed security deposits in line with legal frameworks.

Compliance & Control at the Centre

With Castler, companies obtain multi-bank connectivity for redundancy and load balancing. They also get trustee-backed fund flows for regulatory assurance. For mandate-based payments real-time fraud detection (FEWS) is set up. To ensure seamless integration, Developer-friendly APIs, and complete documentation is also ensured.

Recurring payments aren't nice-to-haves anymore now they're must-haves. From making user experience easier to providing revenue predictability, they create loyalty, efficiency, and scale. But to make recurring payments serve your business particularly if you're dealing with regulations, multiple stakeholders, or high volumes you need more than a payment gateway. You require Castler. Discover how Castler can drive your repeat payment program today.